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Rebel Wilson Wins $3.7 Million In Defamation Suit

Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson has won $3.7 dollars in damages in her defamation case against Bauer Media.

In June, a six-person jury had unanimously sided with Wilson, who claimed that the magazines Woman’s Day and the AustralianWomen’s Weekly had published slanderous stories about her. The jury had been asked to consider a series of articles accusing Wilson of being a “serial liar” who had “fabricated almost every aspect of her life.”

Rebel Wilson Wins Record Breaking Damages

The Supreme Court of Victoria has now ruled that Bauer Media, the publisher of the magazines, must pay Wilson 650,000 Australian dollars in general and aggravated damages, plus 3,917,472 Australian dollars in special damages, making this the highest payout ever for a libel case in Australia. The total comes out to roughly $3.7 million, in American currency.

“Unless substantial damages are rewarded,” said Justice John Dixon, “there is a real risk that the public will not be convinced of the seriousness of the defamation, but will rather wrongly conclude that the articles were trivial or not that serious.”

Justice Dixon also denounced Bauer Media’s commitment to running a series of articles claiming Wilson had lied about her age, name, and childhood even when it knew the allegations were false. The magazines used information “from a source who required payment and anonymity and whom the editor considered had an axe to grind.”

Rebel Wilson Reacts To Judgment

Wilson reacted to the judgment in a string of tweets, beginning with, “Today was the end of a long and hard court battle against Bauer Media who viciously tried to take me down with a series of false articles.” She then went on to thank her fans for their support, also adding, “looking forward to getting back to my career and entertaining everyone!”

Today was the end of a long and hard court battle against Bauer Media who viciously tried to take me down with a series of false articles.